Two MoUs have been signed by the Nissan Science Foundation (NSF) with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) to promote research and development among faculty and also to train deserving students in automobile technology. Titled as the 'Nissan Support Programme', the programme aims to support research and development project at IIT-M in the areas of engineering, science, management, humanities and social sciences. It will be supported by Nissan's R&D Centre in India (RNTBCI) and is valid till March 2013.
Every year the program will invite proposals from the faculty of IIT-M for research work in the identified areas. From those proposals four to five projects will be selected for funding after a joint review by Nissan officials and IIT Madras, said Hiroshi Nagaoka, Senior Vice President & Director (Nissan Operations), RNTBCI. The other MoU titled Nissan Foundation Scholar programme will support selected students with financial aid, training at Nissan Cntre located in Japan and an internship at the Nissan's R&D Centre in India (RNTBCI).
The broader perspective of education is to prepare students to become responsible and knowledgeable citizens for a resourceful and industrious life in a globalised world. In this context, it has become mandatory to reform and strengthen the educational system. Evaluation becomes a tool of ascertaining the level to which the educational system has succeeded in achieving its goals. The Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) model seeks to reform the existing examination based assessment system to a more holistic evaluation of students
“The teacher and the student become the key stakeholders in the CCE model. Formative assessments form the crux of CCE and we are coming up with a lot of resources for this”
A new masters degree programme in special education has been launched at Abu Dhabi University (ADU), that aims at qualifying teachers to develop strategic plans in different areas of interest as well as to provide and lead professional development programmes in special education. Scheduled to be offered in 2011, the new programme is developed based on international standards from major universities in Michigan, Ohio and Florida, US, London Metropolitan University and others. It has also been reviewed and assessed by expert teams in the field from the US.
Recently, a national Information and Communication Technology connectivity project was launched at Ghana, for Colleges of Education to ensure that teachers reappraise their methodologies to meet the learning needs of their students. This Government ICT connectivity project would cover around 38 Colleges of Education (formerly Teacher Training Institutions), 37 Public Technical Institutes, 510 Public Senior High Schools, and 23,000 Public Basic Schools with computing infrastructure. Under this project the schools have been equipped with computers, printers, scanners, projectors and servers. The project would significantly push forward the new, ICT policy of the government.
Soon Britain is to roll out new rules according to which school teachers will be allowed to frisk students for mobile phones, electronic gadgets and even pornography and cigarettes in a bid to prevent disruption in classrooms. The same would be inclusive highlights of an education White Paper that are to be published next week outlining the new rights for teachers to be able to search students for any item that can potentially interrupt lessons. Confiscation of mobile phones, MP3 players and other electronic gadgets will be allowed in case of need by the school staff. There are also included in the same plans to simplify rules on the use of physical force, giving teachers greater powers to take disruptive children out of classrooms without fear of legal action.
An application submitted by Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) was approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), for the electronic library (e-lib) connectivity which will allow students, faculty, and staff to have a wider avenue and greater access to the newest trends in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry. This project on e-library connection of the state-run higher education, is the first out of the eleven government funded projects that have been realised this year in connection with its pending application for accreditation of some of its courses. Dr Nieves A Dacyon, MPSPC president, said the e-library connection is a collaborative project of the National Library of the Philippines, University of the Philippines system, CHEd, Department of Science and Technology (DoST), and the higher education institution based in the province to boost its chances of being the third university in the Cordillera.
A MoU was signed between Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for implementation of the Unique Identification Numbers (UID) project. According to the MoU, IGNOU will collaborate with the UIDAI in conduction proof of concept (POC) studies; the university will also be a pilot to test the working of the technology and process of enrollment into the UID database and subsequently full roll-out of the UID project. The MOU was signed between UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani and IGNOU vice-chancellor VN Rajasekharan Pillai.
The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) has come up with a pilot drive to train 600 teachers in the state of Gujarat. The aim of the initiative was to improve the quality of education and introduce advanced computerised teaching methods in classroom teaching. Under the project, instead of school principals who used to receive such training so far, teachers will undergo classroom reform training. Known as the ‘ICT Blended Design Learning Education Project’, the initiative will be implemented during the duration of November 22-27, on experimental basis in 60 schools of three districts — Vadodara, Anand and Surat.
Held in August 2010, the Olympiad took place at 102 centres in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, including 83 in India. A total of 4,384 students of the 11th grade participated. Out of these, 41 were selected for their outstanding performance. Twenty-nine prize winners were from India and 12 were from other SAARC nations. The winners received medals, awards, cash prizes and merit certificates. The function coincided with India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s 121st birthday, 25th anniversary of IGNOU and 65th anniversary of UNESCO.
The Indian Human Resource Development Ministry has signed a MoU with Unique Identification Authority of India, realising the importance of Unique Identification Number. The partnership is to support education sector for better implementation of schemes, tracking student’s record and curbing menace of fake degrees. The proposed MoU would be helpful in tracking student’s mobility by creating an electronic registry of all students, right from primary/elementary level through secondary and higher education, as also between the institutions. The agreement was signed between Amit Khare, Joint Secretary, HRD Ministry and Anil Kachi, Deputy Director GeneraL, UIDAI.
According to some officials, soon Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode will sign Memorandum of Understanding with top 10 Chinese universities. Recently, a tripartite agreement was signed by IIM-K with US’ Yale University. Debashish Chatterjee, IIM-K Director also mentioned that IIM-K was looking at other universities, beyond US, in the east. The institute presently has collaborations with 20-25 foreign universities which is likely to go up to 50 in a year’s time, said Chatterjee, who recently returned after a four-day visit to China. The tripartite MoU entered between the Yale University, IIM-K and IIT-Kanpur, to launch the Yale India Leadership Programme, would expose university and academia leaders in India at the level of Vice Chancellors and Deans to the best practices of academic institutional management in the US.
